Bidding rules are applied to the bids calculated by Marin’s automated bidding algorithms in order to control or restrain bids based on your own business needs. They can be used to create a bid cap, a bid floor, a maximum bid change percentage and more, in order to make certain your Strategy meets your business' unique needs.
Before you begin: Rules can be an incredibly valuable part of your optimization, however, since they can interfere with the algorithm's ability to make bidding decisions, it's important to validate the purpose of each rule and carefully consider its expected impact prior to implementation.
If in doubt, opt for using fewer rules, instead of more rules, to give the bidding algorithm freedom to increase or decrease your bids without running into restrictions. And if you're ever uncertain what a rule does or if it's right for your business, don't hesitate to reach out to a platform representative or our Customer Support team to discuss how each rule fits as part of your overall bidding strategy.
Set a Bid Cap is the maximum allowable bid. For example, a bid cap of $100 means the bidding algorithm is not allowed to increase your bid over $100.
Keep in mind that a Bid Cap ignores your Strategy-level targets by placing a cap on the allowable bid. If your Strategy is performing well and MarinOne Bidding would like to increase keyword bids to reach your target, a Bid Cap can interfere with this optimization.
Set a Bid Floor is the minimum allowable bid. For example, a bid floor of $5 means the bidding algorithm is not allowed to decrease your bid below $5.
Keep in mind that a Bid Floor ignores your Strategy-level targets by placing a floor on the allowable bid. If your Strategy is not performing well and MarinOne Bidding would like to decrease keyword bids to reach your target, a Bid Floor can interfere with this optimization.
Keep above First Page Bid causes the minimum allowable bid for Google keywords to be equal to the First Page Minimum Bid determined by the publisher.
Keep in mind that the Google First Page bid does not take efficiency into consideration and may not result in a well-optimized Strategy.
Limit bid change under % (Maximum Bid Change) is the maximum percentage that bids can change each day. For example, if MarinOne Bidding has determined that your current keyword bid is $1, but the ideal bid will eventually need to reach $5, then this rule will allow the change to take place incrementally. If your maximum bid change % is set to 25%, then MarinOne Bidding will make small increases of 25% over the course of several days or several weeks to meet your desired keyword bid, rather than making those changes all at once.
This rule controls the reactivity of a Strategy to market changes, often preventing the over-optimization of bids. It is strongly recommended to set this to a maximum of 25%. Consider lowering it if your keywords only generate 1 or 2 conversions per week on average.
Set a Search Impression Share Cap allows you to set an impression share cap on Strategies that are NOT bidding toward an Awareness Target. This means that even Strategies that are targeting a financial goal (CPL, ROAS) can have an impression share cap. For example, if you're bidding toward a CPL goal, an impression share cap will prevent the algorithm from increasing bids on keywords that are already sitting above the impression share cap.
Note: There are three different types of Impression Share Caps. To use, you will select the one that best fits your bidding needs. You can only use one type of Impression Share Cap at a time.
Set a Top Impression Share Cap allows you to set an impression share cap on Awareness Targeting Strategies that are bidding toward Top Imp % (Top Impression Percentage). This means your Strategy is targeting the top of the page (anything above the fold on the Search Engine Results Page).
Note: There are three different types of Impression Share Caps. To use, you will select the one that best fits your bidding needs. You can only use one type of Impression Share Cap at a time.
Set an Abs. Top Impression Share Cap allows you to set an impression share cap on Awareness Targeting Strategies that are bidding toward Abs. Top Imp. % (Absolute Top Impression Percentage). This means your Strategy is targeting the very first ad position on the Search Engine Results Page.
Note: There are three different types of Impression Share Caps. To use, you will select the one that best fits your bidding needs. You can only use one type of Impression Share Cap at a time.
Maximum CPL allows you to set a lower efficiency target for Google keywords below the first-page-bid-minimum. This rule is designed to periodically re-test keyword profitability on Page 1 and should be set equal to the Target CPL or Margin when launching bidding for the first time. Consider setting a Maximum CPL higher than the Target CPL (or Minimum Margin lower than the Target Margin) for 1 week every 3-6 months. This will give keywords that have been bid down below the first-page-bid-minimum an opportunity to perform at the primary target in a changed market.
Excluded Dates allow you to exclude click and conversion data for specified dates or date ranges from being used to calculate your bids . This is useful if there has been a period or day of unusual performance which would skew bid calculations (e.g. Black Friday sale), or if you have a data integrity issue such as unreliable or missing revenue data. This setting recognizes both past and future dates.
Boost is a bid multiplier applied to objects within a Strategy and can be used to control spend, volume, and efficiency. Adjusting Boost has the same effect as adjusting a Strategy efficiency target (e.g. increasing Boost by 10% is mathematically equivalent to increasing Target CPL from $1.00 to $1.10).
Boosts can be either Static or Scheduled. A static boost will be applied to your Strategy long-term, while a scheduled boost can be turned on and off based on a date range of your choosing. Scheduled boosts can be used for promotions, seasonality, or any other time when your bids need to be adjusted short-term.
Bid Overrides allow you to remove specific keywords from automated bidding even if their Campaign is mapped to an active Strategy. This rule is not recommended unless there is a specific business reason to use it. Settings include:
Note: In the grid, if your Bid Override is turned on, the column will display Override, rather than On.
Bid Overrides can be applied in single edit, multi-edit, or via a bulk upload. We'll explain how below.
Note: For MarinOne's automated bidding to work best, we recommend using Bid Overrides strategically and only when needed. If you're uncertain if Bid Overrides are the right choice for you bidding goals, please reach out to a platform representative.